As a teacher, I enjoyed a nice two week break over the Holiday Season. During that break, I had the great opportunity of teaching an adult Sunday school class about prayer from the book Desiring God, by John Piper. As I prepared and presented the lesson, I was convicted about how much I need to get back to a consistent prayer life. I also was convicted about prayer in my ministry at school. I decided that it was time to get back into the habit of praying on a more consistent basis.
Little did I know what God had just around the corner for me. A colleague of mine gave me a book entitled, The Green Letters by Miles Stanford. The book talks about how we as Christians need to put more of an emphasis on focusing on what Christ already accomplished for us versus focusing on what I can do for Christ. It is all about Him, and not about us. As I read that book I came to a chapter entitled “Help.” I was stopped dead in my tracks when I read the first sentence, “It is time to stop asking God for help. He didn’t help us to be saved, and He doesn’t intend to help us live the Christian life. Immaturity considers the Lord Jesus a Helper. Maturity knows Him to be Life itself.” The verses that He points out are Philippians 1:21 and Philippians 4:13a. Wm. R. Newell said, “Satan’s great device is to drive earnest souls back to beseeching God for what God says has already been done!” I realized then what he meant by the first statement about “help” was that God has already given us everything that we need for this life and godliness in Jesus Christ and that asking for help is asking God to do things He already has accomplished for me through Christ.
This makes a lot of since, considering what I taught in Sunday School. “So we see repeatedly in Scripture that prayer is a walkie-talkie for warfare, not a domestic intercom for increasing our conveniences.” (John Piper) The majority of the time when I ask God for help it is as if prayer is a domestic intercom and not a walkie-talkie for warfare.” All of the sudden prayer is really hard for me. I think that it should be hard for every believer to pray. Words in our pathetic English language are not adequate for the Almighty God.
I challenge anyone who is reading this post, to look at the spiritually mature believers in Scripture (Jesus and Paul) and pay attention to how they prayed. They did not ask for help. They were much more specific and had a warfare mindset. Now I know that there were people in Scripture who prayed for help, which tells me it is not wrong. It is good to pray for help. But the best way to pray is not for help. Those who prayed for help in the Bible, were number one, part of a different dispensation, or two, spiritually immature.
I will leave you with this thought, How much more effective could God be through you this year, if you did not pray for help, but prayed the way Jesus and Paul did in Scripture?
12 comments:
What a great challenge!
In my private prayers, my language to God tends more toward the walkie-talkie for warfare model. But I confess that my public prayer language (which I tend to shy away from anyway because I'm not a good extemporaneous public speaker -- it makes me nervous -- yeah, me, a schoolteacher!) tends to include way too much "filler", platitudes, "Christianese" - all the stuff that made me groan as a kid on Wednesday nights when the church prayer meeting dragged on too long! I want/need to be more ready and able to pray aloud with students, friends, colleagues and have those prayers be genuine communication with God. Since you and I started our prayer discussions, being aware of the language I use and the focus of what I am praying for and about has been helpful.
Wow!!! That is so convicting!!! Thank you for helping me to learn to not pray for help but to pray like the deciples . G2G swead the word 2 my friend at a sleepover!!! Pray 4 me!:0 :)
Welcome to the discussion, Grace.
Technically, you are right that Jesus wasn’t a “believer” since he is, of course, the one in whom we believe. Nevertheless, he is our example of maturity in every area of godliness, including prayer, and that was the point that Mr. N was making by mentioning him with Paul. Remember, that it was Jesus whom the disciples asked to teach them to pray. And God made sure to include in the scriptures many recorded instances of Christ taking time apart in his ministry to pray to the Father, again demonstrating the importance of his example to us. Mr. N was simply pointing out that the examples of both Jesus’ prayers and Paul’s prayers are important ones to consider. Also, please note that in the prayer that Jesus used as an example for his disciples, there is no mention of asking God to “help” them do anything. Rather, the verbs used imply God’s complete authority and power in the face of our utter helplessness.
As for saying the wrong things to God in my prayers, part of the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to elevate our meager human language into a form pleasing and honoring to God. You are right: when our prayers to God are genuine, we need not be overly concerned about the words we say to Him. However, prayers are not just for God’s benefit. Public prayer is also a form of witnessing and testimony. It is another opportunity to share truth in the ears of those who may not know it. Just as I would when speaking to another person about my faith, I want to make as certain as I am able that my words are accurate and my doctrine is sound, that I am conveying the truth as purely as I know how to. And private prayer is for my benefit, since it allows me to see myself realistically before a holy, awesome, almighty, loving, merciful, gracious God. I am aware of the words I use and how they portray me to Him and Him to me.
Yes, you are right that we can still ask God for help. Note Mr. N’s statement:
Now I know that there were people in Scripture who prayed for help, which tells me it is not wrong. It is good to pray for help.
However, there is a huge difference between the ‘help’ one asks for when one needs a bit of assistance and the cry for ‘help’ of a drowning person going under for the last time. The first person is capable of accomplishing most of the task himself. The second is completely helpless and hopeless and must rely entirely on someone else to rescue him.
Those who are the most mature in Christian faith and godliness have gone through the most severe of life’s trials. They have learned the lesson that Mr. Stanford is teaching: Immaturity considers the Lord Jesus a Helper. Maturity knows Him to be Life itself. He isn’t saying that considering the Lord to be our Helper is wrong. He is saying that the more your faith in Christ grows, the deeper your reliance on Him grows as well. I want to move beyond thinking of Christ as my “helping hand” or my “assistant” and realize an even better truth: that He is my “all in all”, my entire sustenance. That is genuine growth. And it is what brings Christ far more glory!
I’d like to clarify a couple other items you mentioned: 1). Philippians 4:13a does include the phrase “through Christ” -- note the placement of the comma. 2). References to God as our helper number only four in the entire Bible. Three of those references are in Psalms; the other is in Hebrews (which is obviously written to Jewish people, who would be quite familiar with the language used in the Old Testament to speak about God). While the Psalmist was generally a very godly man and even called “a man after God’s own heart” by God himself, he nevertheless had a less perfect understanding of who God was than we are able to have today. You see, due to the dispensation in which he lived, David did not have the benefit of the entire written revelation of God, nor did he have the benefit of experiencing salvation in Christ. So he had no knowledge of the great truths of identification with Christ made possible by the crucifixion that Paul taught us. He was unable to articulate his dependence upon God in terms of Galatians 2:20 and Romans 7 and Philippians 1:21. Salvation and sanctification in the minds of those who lived under the Old Covenant still involved human effort and endeavor. The only expression that David had to convey his relationship with God was “help”. How much superior the New Covenant is to the Old Covenant! And how much more deeply and richly and intimately we can know God than David could.
May God give you grace to understand and appreciate more deeply every day all that Christ is and has done for you, Grace.
Mrs. A
Hi Mr.N. This is Nat. How is your snowday? I found this post very interesing and i agree with some of it but i have some disagreements. You said that God does not intend to help us live the Christian life,but once we accept the gift of eternal life God gives us the holy spirit to guide us in our Christian lives and keep us on the right track even if it takes suffering and paine. You are right that he does give us everything we need for life and godliness, but he doesn't just leave us after that he is still with us. In the Bible it does not say that asking for help is wrong in fact it has many instances when people do ask for help. I don't know who is spiritually imature, but i think it was spiritually mature to rely and ask for God's help and not try to realy on their own strength. I do not particularly like to read book by Christian authors because i enjoy better reading the Bible and seeing what God has to say even though it is good to see what other Christians view. I do not think we should get our theories from books written by other people but instead get them from the Bible. In Matthew 7:7-12 Jesus says himself that we should ask the Father and it will be given to us. u should read it. I think prayer is easier than u thought because when i pray it is easy for me since i have a good relationship with Him. It should be easy for u since God does not care how u pray in form but what is in your heart. It is about the relationship with him and not about fancy words. we should also just be praying to God and not try to show off to other people. Read Matthew 6:5-15 Jesus talks about prayer. Jesus does pray for help in the bible(aka Matthew6:11). He doesn't say"help me Lord" but he does ask God to help provide for our needs even though we shouldn't worry about that since we know he will.
Respecfully in Christ,
Natalie
Sorry..Don't agree at all here with you Mr. Newman..I guess since John Piper said it..it automatically makes it correct??? WRONG!! Sorry just don't think your right on this one...
Not trying to be rude!! Dont take it wrong..
So Mr.N I agree with u and Mrs.A. Grace, Nat and Janessa as u say it does not say it is wrong to pray for help. In the book that Mr. N quoted it is saying that there are better words than just "help" like you can use the words say: cause us, give us wisdom,understanding. Now God does pray for help but what words does he use he doesnt say help us provide he says give us this day our daily bread. It is just saying that there are better words than help to say it and as old as we are it should be just as easy if not easier to say something other than help to pray for help. CJ
cj..if thats what he meant when he said not asking God for help he would have said it that way. I really dont think thats what he meant. I know it offended me and probably a couple other people..guess thats just my opinion. And when did we start getting information from books other than the Bible that is important for our spiritual walk??
The only thing I disagree with is reading other biblical books and getting ur idea from that, not the Bible! (not trying to be mean Mr. N)
Do you use a textbook (besides the Bible) in your Bible class? Does your Sunday School teacher or youth group leader use a Bible study book to plan his or her lessons? Does Mr. N or Mrs. A use a study book for the boys' and girls' Monday Bible studies? Do you use a personal devotion book? Do Bible colleges have students read a number of theology books for each of their classes? Does your pastor have an extensive library of books on Christian theology and Christian living, Bible commentaries, Bible study aids, books on evangelism, Bible history, prophecy, preaching, etc. etc. written by hundreds of different authors (step into his study at church some day to see)?
hey its carson,i think its alright to pray for help,but if you you are mature enough,i think you should do otherwise,i agree with c j
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